A new ball is a new ball, but not a new ball? That is the official ball of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC).
The WBC official ball is a Rawlings product. It is also a major league ball. Freshly produced Rawlings balls are shiny and slippery. So, mud is applied before the game starts. These are the rules. Major league clubs apply mud to the ball 24 to 48 hours before the start of the game and store it in a place where the temperature is 21 degrees Celsius and the humidity is 50%.
It’s not like you’ve put mud on it from the start. In the 1920s, balls were rubbed with various mixtures, including water, dirt, and shoe polish. However, the color of the balls changed and some even damaged the leather. Lena Blackburn, then 온라인카지노third base coach for the Philadelphia Athletics, was looking for a better alternative and in 1938 discovered certain mud near the Deleware River in New Jersey. After rubbing this mud for about 40 seconds, it became a non-slippery ball without damaging the leather. It didn’t even change the color of the ball. Since then, this mud has become common.
Where the mud is produced is a closely guarded secret. Advances in technology may make the surface non-slippery from the time of ball production, but the major leagues are still maintaining the tradition(?) of smearing mud on baseballs before games. Official balls in Korea and Japan do not use mud. This is because the ball is treated less slippery from the beginning of production
The pitchers of the national team participating in the WBC are currently in the midst of adapting to the official ball. Rawlings balls are slippery even when mud is applied because the leather is thick and the seams are tight. It should be said that there are no stitches at all, but because of this, pitches that snatch stitches such as four seam fastballs, sliders, and curveballs can be difficult to control.
After the game against the NC Dinos on the 17th (Korean time), national team coach Kang-Cheol Lee said, “Pitchers who have thrown the official ball have said that two-seam fastball balls fall well, but slider-type balls fall easily out of the hand.” He said, “Kim Gwang-hyun said that the fastball (four-seam fastball) was bent like a cut fastball, and the changeup was also out of hand.” Ko Young-pyo (kt Wiz), who took the mound that day and threw 16 pitches in one inning, said, “There is a slippery feeling when throwing sideways curves or sliders, but I think the control was good.” “Especially the changeup was comfortable. The two-seam fastball seems to have more movement at the tip of the ball.” In the case of the WBC national team, pitchers in the 50-man preliminary entry were provided with balls in advance to help the players adapt to the official ball.